Fate
by Beantowngirl
Summary: What do you do when one single person turns your entire life around? When all of a sudden what you thought you wanted suddenly doesn't matter anymore.
1. Chapter 1

Charlotte stares at me I can't tell if the water running down her face is from the rain or tears, I can only hope it's rain. "You know you could have told me this months ago." She sniffles wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her jacket,

"I did Charlie. I tried." I tell her, I reach out to wipe what I now know is a tear off her face but she turns her face quickly. "Please don't do this." I find myself pleading with her,

"I need to get home now." She says her voice wobbling with emotion. Even though I really want to stop her, I let her go.

September Five Months Prior-

Senior Year. The year I had been looking forward to since it seems like forever. I know I only have a few more months before I can get the hell out of Tulsa. I had already stopped by the guidance office and picked up a stack of applications for schools that were going to start accepting early applications within the next few weeks. I drop my stuff and slide into the empty seat next to Greg who turns towards me, "Did you see the new girl?" He asks, trying to whisper. Greg never quite mastered that skill his whisper comes out as a quiet yell, and at least three heads whip around towards us. I shake my head,

"No, I don't think so at least. Why?" Greg is a notorious ladies man, he has a horde of girls that follow him around the school and now that he's a senior it's larger than ever. Soda and Darry both think he's a riot. I sigh thinking about Soda, I try not too. He got drafted not to long after he turned eighteen, Steve not far behind him. They had been in basic training together, Soda ended up getting shipped to California before heading overseas. Steve had never made it out of basic training before he had gotten an injury and had been shipped home on the first bus to Tulsa. In reality Steve should have been happy to have gotten out of there alive but all it did was prove to make him even more bitter. Darry and I see him every once in a while, but not nearly as often as we used too. Two-Bit hadn't even been able to pass the physical, so he went back to his normal routine of being out of favor with the law. He's currently sitting up in county on a drunk driving charge. Greg gives an overly exasperated sigh, jerking me out of my thoughts.

"She's super fine." He tells me, "Like traffic stopping fine." Megan Fitzgerald who is sitting in front of Greg and who thinks she's God's gift to the school turns around tossing her dark brown curls over her shoulder,

"She's not all that Gregory." She spits out. Greg chuckles, him and Megan have quite a past with each other. They've been on and off since Greg discovered girls in fourth grade, usually more off than on. But God forbid if Greg so much looks at another girl, I find it funny Megan doesn't care if girls throw themselves at him but if he looks she's ready to rip his head off.

"Jealously doesn't look good on you Meg." Greg remarks. If looks could kill Greg would be dead by the dagger eyes she shoots him before spinning back around. He looks at me and mouths "super fine" at me. I roll my eyes flipping open my text book, the entire class looks up when the door opens and a petite blonde walks in. A gorgeous blonde one who is obviously new. Greg elbows me in ribs and motions towards her, "That's her." He hisses as he smooths back his hair. Mrs. O'Brien acknowledges her,

"Class this is Charlotte MacKinnon she just moved here from?" She looks at her,

"Tennessee." She fills in politely.

"Right Tennessee of course." Mrs. O'Brien hands her a text book, and looks around the classroom, "You can go take that empty seat." She says pointing to the one next to me, Greg mutters something under his breath that sounds like "lucky prick." Charlotte nods, as she sits down next to me smoothing out her dress under her. She gets herself situated than turns slightly in my direction brushing back a piece of her hair revealing the greenest eyes I have ever seen. Mrs. O'Brien is not the best teacher in the world, and as usual she gives us a chapter in our American History book to read and says a summary of it is due tomorrow before she sits back down and starts filing her nails. When the bell rings we all get up, "Oh uh Charlotte I need to talk to you for a moment." We all file out except for Charlotte who stops to talk.

"Dude you suck." Greg whines as we head towards our locker. I whip my head around when I hear an unfamiliar voice call my name, Greg and I look at each other when we realize it's Charlotte.

"Mrs. O'Brien told me to talk to you, she said if I needed any help catching up I should ask you." She smiles at me,

"Oh yeah he's the one that can help you." Greg crows smacking me on the back,

"Ignore him, he doesn't get out much." I give him a look and Greg takes the hint calling he'll see me at track practice. "Charlotte right?" I ask as she twirls the lock on the locker next to mine.

"Yup." She replies exchanging out a few books, "Did I miss a whole lot, I mean it's only a week into the school year?" She asks as we walk down the hall, I can't help but notice the looks I get from quite a few people. I had always had a lot of friends but now that the whole soc/greaser thing is over, I've accrued a lot more.

"No but she's paranoid about her job because she's a crappy teacher." I tell her. She laughs lightly, than hands me a piece of paper,

"Well if you think of anything I may need to know call me." She says smiling at me. I nod,

"Yeah absolutely." I reply. I glance at my watch, "I should go got practice." Charlotte nods,

"It was nice meeting you." She replies as she turns and walks down the hall. I take a deep breath, put her number in my pocket and head towards the locker room.


	2. Chapter 2

Two Weeks Later-

American History has easily become my favorite class. Mrs. O'Brien stands up and surveys the room, "For this upcoming project I'll be assigning the partners." She casts a look at Greg who grins at her in response, "We don't want a repeat of last time do we Mr. Martin?"

"Of course not Mrs. O." Greg replies. She gives a look like she'd rather be anywhere in the world than here,

"Right." She sighs deeply putting her hand on the desk in the front of the room, "Everyone is this row look right, everyone is this row turn left. Say hi to your new partner." I find myself looking directly at Charlotte who smiles at me. I had never gotten up the nerve to actually call her, and I had yet to hear the end about it from Greg. But it hadn't been unnoticed that whenever we saw each other in the hall or at lunch we'd catch each others eye and smile. "You can take the last five minutes to discuss with your partner." She says sitting back down picking up a magazine.

"I know you have track practice after school we can work on this after that if you want." Charlotte says, I look at her.

"Yeah that would be fine." I reply casually. I find myself silently praying she doesn't suggest doing it at my house. Despite the house being much cleaner now that Soda isn't there and the other guys are hardly there, it's still run down and not in a part of town I can see Charlotte stepping foot into. Luckily she says,

"You can come over to my house, my Aunt works nights so it'll be fine." She scribbles her address on a piece of paper and hands it to me, "So I'll see you about 7 than?"

"7:00." I repeat as the bell rings and we head our separate directions. I am so distracted during practice I am surprised that I don't kill myself. As soon as it's over I head home, take a quick shower and go into the living room to talk to Darry. "Hey I've got a school project I need to work on, is it cool if I borrow the car?" Darry looks at me over the top of the newspaper,

"Yeah, remember it's a school night don't be out to late."

"I won't." I call grabbing the keys. It takes me about twenty minutes to get to Charlotte's house which is a duplex in a pretty standard middle class neighborhood. I knock and wait a few seconds later she pulls it open,

"Hey. Come on in." She greets stepping back letting me in. "Excuse the mess we are still trying to unpack and my Aunt has been working full time." I take a look around there are stacks of boxes piled against the wall and on top of the furniture. Charlotte pauses and looks around, "We can go in my room it's probably the cleanest."

"Uh..ok." I reply following her. She opens the door and flicks on the light, "So you live with your aunt?" I ask I take the desk chair as Charlotte sits on the bed.

"Yeah." She answers. I am curious but I don't really want to pry, after a few seconds she continues, "Lets just say I was neither planned nor wanted by my parents."

"I'm sorry." Is all I can think of to say, Charlotte shrugs,

"I got over it along time ago, Aunt Val has had me since I was two weeks old. But don't worry I get a letter from my parents every Christmas and on my birthday."

"Where are they?" I ask.

"Some impoverished country, they are both teachers. They are over there teaching English or something. They were somewhere in Africa when mom found out she was pregnant with me, dad did everything he could do to get her to keep the pregnancy." Charlotte pauses a second, "She flew home to have me and told my aunt if she were able to she'd give me up, but she knew dad would never sign the papers, so Aunt Val told her she'd take me."

"That was nice of her." Charlotte nods,

"She's pretty amazing. She just got transferred here she's going to be the head of the new NICU department in the hospital." She shakes her head than tucks a piece of hair behind her ear,

"So what are your plans after you graduate?"

"Aunt Val keeps telling me I can go to whatever school I want, before we moved I was kind of set on Vanderbilt but I feel like I should stay close to her. What about you?"

"Haven't decided yet." I tell her, I don't want to tell her how my plans involve hot tailing it out of Tulsa as soon as I graduate, it would most likely lead to questions that I'm not sure I want to answer yet.

"Well you have plenty of time." Charlotte tells me, she picks up her text book, "So about that project..." We spend the next few hours planning out what we want to do and just talking. She's really easy to talk too, funny and obviously smart, and gorgeous. Really gorgeous. I've found myself getting lost in those emerald green eyes a few times. Charlotte walks me to the door as I get ready to go,

"So I'll see you in class tomorrow." I remark, nothing like stating the obvious.

"I'll be there." It's pretty evident we are both stalling,

"Are you free Saturday night?" I blurt out.

"I think so."

"Did you want to go see a movie or something?" I ask, I find myself holding my breath bracing for the worst. Instead Charlotte smiles,

"I'd love too." I exhale,

"Great. I work till 5:00, would 7:00 work for you?" She nods,

"7:00 is great. I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you then." I reply she shuts the door and I go to the car and head home, thinking Saturday can't come soon enough.


End file.
